This is an overview of the process of adding products to your facility in Party Center Software.
To create a new product or event, do the following
- From the Admin menu, go to Product Management and select Products
- In the upper right area of the page, click Add product
- Choose your new product type
Product (Standard Item)
These are your standard items such as merchandise, food, beverages, open play. You also have the option to specify a vendor for these products.
Event
These are all products that are scheduled or booked and can be assigned to a time slot (ig: parties, reservations, etc.). MOST facilities will want to utilize this product type for things like birthday party packages, corporate events, etc., as taxes checked for Events are applied to the full amount of the party, as well as any additional guest fees.
Package
This is a set of products. You will need to have items in your product list prior to creating the package. A package can be scheduleable (like an event) or non-scheduleable. An item cannot consist of an event item. Scheduleable packages are best used for parties or events that have different tax rates for their items that make up the total package price (eg: my Classic Birthday Party package is $200, but only $100 of that is taxable, and the other $100 is non-taxable).
Discount & Coupon
Discounts and Coupons that can be set to change the overall order total or package price (promotional discounts, etc.) Currently, these products can only be created as a dollar amount. and is the older way of handling discounts. The new way is through the Discounts option under Product Management on the Admin page.
Prepaid
Prepaid items can be sold and redeemed online and in store. Examples: Gift cards and Game cards.
Product Info Tab
Product Category
Select, or create new, the category which this product falls under. The more product categories that you have the more detailed your reports will be. Categories cannot be deleted or modified.
Product Description
You may control the visibility of the Product on Invoices and Email Confirmations. You can select to have the description not show at all (default), show on the screen invoice, show on printed invoice, or show on both the screen and printed invoices. Note: selecting the Printed Invoice also includes invoices and order confirmations which are delivered via email.
Category Sorting:
Sort Product Categories feature link allows you to sort your categories, so in the drop downs to choose a product, you will see the products under your sorted categories. Click the link, then drag and drop the categories in the order you wish. Click Save Categories at the bottom of the screen, or Cancel to not save.
Product Sorting Next to each Category is a “sort products” link you may use to sort the products under each category. Drag and drop the products in the order you wish, then click the “Save Products”.
Product Name
Type a short yet descriptive name that will identify your product
Online Booking Products (Add Ons):
Sort the products for Online Booking events by clicking the “Sort Product List” button.
Ensure all add on products have their boxed checked so they become associated to that event as an add on.
Sorting the add ons: Click the Sort Product List button, then drag and drop the items in the order you wish. When you are done, click the “Save Screen Order” button. You may also click the X in the upper right corner of the overlay window to close it.
Product Description
Type a description for your product. Your customer will see this, so please be specific.
Vendor
This drop down menu allows you to assign a vendor (that you have already created) to the product. This will be used for ordering items and for vendor reports. Don't worry if you have not already created a vendor list you can reassign the product to the vendor afterwards.
Vendor Order Required
Check Yes to enable the Vendor Order Report
Cost
The cost to your company for the item. Your customer does not see this fee. Note: This does not tie to any reports you can run in the software.
Base Price/Per Person Price
The price you are charging for this item. Your customer will see this price. Choose between per person pricing or base price only. If you choose per person pricing, the software will calculate the per person price based on your additional guest fee designated in the event options tab of the event.
The Per Person price will be reflected in the upper right hand corner
Deposit Amount
The price you have designated as the deposit the customer will pay to reserve their party online.
Auto Calculate Tip Percentage
This will set an automatic tip amount on the event product based on total cost of the party/event. You can manually override the amount set to the invoice if you wish to change it by clicking Tip (or whatever you have renamed Tip to). Note: You must enter at least two digits into this field, so if you would like to calculate a 5% tip, you will need to enter 5.0 and then save.
Product Code
A unique code that is used to identify your product in the administrative schedule
Serialized Product Radio Button
This option lets you serialize products utilizing the regex formula such as gift cards to avoid duplicates, theft, or abuse. If you're unfamiliar with regex, do not fill this out.
Minimum Pre-order time
The amount of time required in advance for the item to be reserved/ purchased. If your customer tries to book within this window, they will get an on-screen message notifying this event requires pre-order time. You specify the message they see under Admin>Online Booking>Manage Settings>Pre-Order Text field.
Maximum Pre-order time
This is the maximum amount of time out in the future a customer can book an event/ reservation. If you prefer to not limit how far out an event can be reserved, this will remain at zero.
Active Radio Button
Activates or Deactivates a product
Applicable Taxes
Select one of the tax options that you created in the Preferences screen of the Facility Info. If none are selected then the item is tax exempt.
Available for Online Booking Radio Button
Select whether or not the event or product will be available in the Online Booking Module
Event Options Tab
Schedule Button Color
This customizes the color of the Schedule/ Reserve button on the Schedule Page to help differentiate between the different product types that are available.
Event Time Adjustment
You can specify how many minutes the starting and ending times of this event deviate from a schedule slot. example: a "Starting" adjustment of -30 would mean the event starts 30 minutes earlier than the schedule slot its assigned to.
Track Adults & Child Counts Separately
This option specifies if you want a separate count for adults and for children on the order form.
Guest Capacity
The number of people your facility can accommodate in the party space.
Minimum Guest Count
The minimum number of guests that are required to schedule an event.
Maximum Guest Count
The maximum number of guests that a customer is allowed to book without Admin approval. This is the maximum number of guests that a customer can book online.
Standard Guest Count
The number of guests that are included in the price. Any guest counts that are over this number will be subject to the Additional Guest Fee.
Additional Guest Fee
The amount charged per guest when the actual event guest count is over the Standard Guest count.
Exceeded Max. Guest Fee
Amount charged per guest when the Maximum Guest Count is exceeded.
Customer Pay Entire Price Radio Button
When set to no this setting will have no effect on your bookings. When set to yes, this will automatically require that the customer pay the entire price of the party and all add-ons regardless of what you checked for Deposit Amount.
Online Booking Tab
Include Guest Fees Radio Button
Chose Yes to include the prices associated with the add on products. This will also ensure the order total is automatically updated as the customer adds items to the order.
Products Purchasable With This Event
The items you see in this section are pulled directly from the items/events you have already created. Select an item to associate it to an event or make an item available to be purchased as an "Add On" in the Online Booking Module.